skygiants | (no subject)

Somehow in my whole life, despite growing up on Pippi Longstocking, I had never actually read Ronia, the Robber's Daughter.

Fortunately,

aberration recognized this as the travesty it was and turned up one day with her copy for our household - in a very timely fashion, too, because children's adventure books make for AMAZING thesis-stress-reading.

Ronia, The Robber's Daughter is the most adorable book about a blood feud between two gangs of thieves EVER. Head Thief Matt is SUPER EXCITED to have a daughter to someday pass the leadership of his gang down to, which makes sense, because she's awesome.

He is way less excited to find out that his rival, Borka, a.) has a son and b.) is moving into the fortress next door. (Stupid Borka isn't even supposed to know how to MAKE kids!)

Meanwhile, the kids, Ronia and Birk, save each other's lives a few times, and then become friends, and then swear to be together forever, and then decide that their parents are making stupid and unethical life choices and they refuse to be a part of them.

HIJINKS ENSUE. And difficult family stuff, but -- spoiler! -- it all works out okay in the end. Honestly there is really nothing about the book that I can think of that is not delightful. Plucky badass kids! Adventure! Loyalty! Awesome moms! Daring escapes! Emotional depth! Etc., etc.

(Has anyone seen the movie? I feel like I was having a conversation about this with somebody recently, but that was before I read the book, so I actually had no idea what I was talking about.)

Crossposts: http://bookelfe.livejournal.com/332411.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

qian

Aww, I loved this book when I was tiny! I liked it a lot better than the Pippi books, IIRC -- oddly enough I found Pippi terrifying and the, y'know, robber's daughter endearing and easy to identify with. Need to reread!

From:

skygiants

I like it better than my memory of the Pippi books! But my memories of the Pippi books are also very vague and mixed up with my memories of the film. I remember ending up sad for Pippi, though, in an eternal-child Tuck Everlasting sort of way that you don't have to be sad for Ronia . . .

From:

antisoppist

I lived in Sweden in 1987-88 and the film and the soundtrack are part of my memories from that time. I even possess a Swedish book on the making of the film. There are some clips/stills/songs on youtube if you search on "Ronja Rövardotter". It also includes Tommy Körberg, who went on to be the Swedish Les Mis Valjean and the Russian in Chess, as one of the singing robbers.

From:

skygiants

That sounds fascinating! I should definitely make the YouTube forays -- excited for singing robbers! :D

From:

luzula

The movie is well worth seeing! Of course, being Swedish, I grew up on it (and the book). Ronja is absolutely wonderful, and so are Lovis and Mattis (although I find the actor doing Birk kind of annoying). There's some great music and scenery in it, too.

Also you get all the robbers rolling around naked in the snow to get clean (I wonder if all those penises got past American censorship when it was shown in the US?), and I think they all cross-dress for fun at some point too, as I remember? *g*

From:

skygiants

Ha, that's a good question! (Relatedly, I was amazed and horrified to find out the first American translation changed Ronia's name to 'Kristy.' WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?)

From:

luzula

This is like the Nancy Drew books being changed to Kitty Drew in the Swedish translation. Why would you do that? Like, both are American-sounding names to Swedish ears. *shrugs*

From:

antisoppist

WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT
I spent the weekend at a Nordic translation conference which included a paper on the publishing history of Astrid Lindgren translations and no-one mentioned such a horror! It was said that the estate is pretty protective of her characters and demands translation approval. Perhaps that sort of thing is why.

Singing robbers here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C13oL-z4jno&list=PLBA0257D0FBFEE2CC

From:

skygiants

I think this was before there was an Astrid Lindgren estate (as opposed to just Astrid Lindgren) so maybe that's why? That must have been a fascinating paper, though!

*___* Singing robbers are EXACTLY as adorable as I would have hoped and dreamed singing robbers would be!

From:

adiva_calandia

Were we talking about the movie? I also have a distinct memory of talking about it, and that seems like too much coincidence.

My mom read this one to me at some particularly emotionally vulnerable time in my choldhood, because I remember being just UTTERLY devastated by whatever supporting character death there is at the end of the book, and basically nothing else. I should reread.

From:

skygiants

Oh, that could be! Or we were both talking about it with a third person who mentioned it to both of us; either seems plausible.

Awwww, I want to give tiny Adiva a hug now!

From:

hafl

I missed Ronia in my massive Lindgren reread a year or so back, so thanks for reminding me about it. (I haven't seen the movie, but my brother was super excited when he was able to visit one of the locations it was filmed at.)

From:

skygiants

I was going to say "how could you miss Ronia!" but, I mean, its not like I've read any Lindgren except Pippi and Ronia . . . >.>

From:

cyphomandra

I saw the movie in my early teens, and all I remember is that it taught me the word "shitkickers", which I had not previously encountered as an insult :-)

I liked Pippi, and was equally traumatised and fascinated by The Brothers Lionheart, but as a child I also really loved Lindgren's Bullerby Children books, which are really just everyday childhood life (on a farm in Sweden), but were very good, and oddly comforting.

From:

skygiants

It's a glorious insult that I feel my younger self would have been glad to learn!

So far my Lindgren experience is limited to Pippi and Ronia, but I feel I ought to expand further at some point.

From:

jothra

A: I LOVE THIS BOOK HOW HAD YOU NOT READ IT

B: THERE'S A MOVIE??

From:

skygiants

A: BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T TELL ME TO, OBVIOUSLY

B: YES!!! You should watch it with me :D

From:

aberration

I didn't even know there was a movie! Though that being said, if I ever get the chance to be in close proximity to Hayao Miyazaki, this is the book I'd shove into his hands.

Edited Date: 2013-04-10 03:07 am (UTC)

From:

skygiants

So then it wasn't with you! Good, I would have felt silly if it was. It's a Swedish movie!

But oh, man, this would make a gorgeous Miyaaki film. All the woodland creatures!

From:

batyatoon

RONIA. I love this book with a deep and abiding love. I love absolutely everything about it, to the point where I am not sure I could appreciate a movie adaptation -- it is bound to get something wrong that will upset me.

But in listing all the awesome things, you left out the forest's magical creatures! Harpies! Rumphobs! The Unearthly Ones!

From:

skygiants

I mean, yes the magical creatures are cool, but the FAMILY STUFF Batya! *___* (And now you know where my narrative priorities are, if you didn't before. >.>)

From:

batyatoon

Okay yes the FAMILY STUFF is the best part of it, absolutely. I love the relationships so hard -- Ronia-Matt and Ronia-Lovis and Matt-Lovis and Ronia-Noddle-Pete and Ronia-alltheotherrobbers. (How awesome is Lovis? SO AWESOME.)

And Ronia-Birk counts as family too, I think, especially as they do decide they're brother and sister. You get the feeling Birk's family life isn't quite as functional as Ronia's?

From:

skygiants

(LOVIS IS THE GREATEST. I love how she's not bothered by ANYTHING until stuff gets serious, and suddenly, BAM, Lovis is there fixing things up.)

They totally count as family! And yeah, I do get that sense -- actually one of the things I really admire is how the families are not in any way direct parallels, they relate to each other differently and process everything that's happened in different ways. (Which may or may not 100% work for them.)

From:

katta

Oh, if I had known you hadn't read Ronia I totally would have asked you to correct that! Next to Mardie to the Rescue, it's the Astrid Lindgren novel I have the strongest emotional connection to. And the film is hands-down the best of the AL adaptations. I know I managed to get it to

jadelennox at some point, can't remember if it was legally or not. Do you want me to look into it for you?

Btw, concerning travesties of Lindgren translations, I remember being told that while the British edition of the first Mardie novel allows Mardie to think, as in the original, "Mr. Nilsson was probably drunk, he usually was on Saturdays," the American version, Mischievous Meg, instead thinks, "What a lazy man!" Which would be reason enough to stay away from that one, methinks. (The second novel was only ever translated in a British edition, which surprises me not one bit considering the importance of class issues and socialism in that one.)

Oh, and if you want your heart shattered into a million pieces, try her picture books. My Linden Plays, My Nightingale is Singing in particular always makes me cry. (Though my friend N. claims it's not sad at all.)

Edited Date: 2013-04-11 06:31 pm (UTC)

From:

skygiants

I think I can probably find out a way to acquire it, but I will let you know if that turns out not to be the case -- thank you for the offer! :D

And ahahahaha man. TRANSLATIONS. >.< What terrible, terrible choices you sometimes make!

From:

katta

I found an article about the Mardie/Meg translations, though only the abstract is in English. In summary, it seems the US version (Meg) took out every single potentially offensive thing about the book, while the UK kept it all in except, for some reason, the word "snot".

From:

batyatoon

Mardie! I need a copy of that -- I read it ONCE in grade school and have been unable to find it since.

From:

katta

The first book is good, but the second is even better. It was my favourite when I was seven, and then when I re-read it as an adult, it made me smile, cry, smile again and cry again - all in the same chapter.